After almost 20 years of providing New York City with one of its most popular and best-sounding venues, Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg will be closing its doors in just under a year.
According to Variety, the famous destination opened its doors in 2007 will be losing its lease at the tail-end of 2026. It will be forced to find a new venue or simply shut down the whole operation as America and its businesses continue to crumble under this disastrous Trump regime (allegedly — might as well blame him for this one, too). In its nearly two-decade run, the popular music venue has hosted the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, Tyler, The Creator and many other timeless artists.
In an internal memo obtained by Variety, from the Bowery Presents co-partners Jim Glancy and John Moore broke the news to the venue’s staff of the unfortunate circumstances.
Variety reports:
After nearly two decades, The Bowery Presents has been notified by the owners of 66 North 6th Street that our lease for Music Hall of Williamsburg will not be renewed, and our time in the building will come to an end at the conclusion of 2026. We will continue to produce shows at Music Hall throughout next year, making each moment count for rising talent and returning stars, ensuring the legacy of this venue and its impact on both the neighborhood and music overall is secured in history.
Music Hall quickly established itself as a foundational venue for both artists and our staff alike. We opened the venue and hosted countless artists at the very beginning of their careers, including Mumford and Sons, Tame Impala, St. Vincent, Ed Sheeran, Tyler, The Creator, Brandi Carlile, The xx, The Weeknd, Robyn, Disclosure, The War on Drugs, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Phoebe Bridgers, IDLES, Maggie Rogers, Fred again.., Geese, and Audrey Hobert, to name just a few. Several of these artists grew their careers and audiences with Bowery through our larger clubs and on to arenas and stadiums. Music Hall has also made headlines with underplays featuring the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Deftones, and dozens of other legendary artists. In addition, we saw some of Bowery’s own staff begin their careers at Music Hall and make the move to larger stages and productions.
Now that the venue will be shuttering its doors in a year, we wonder if they’ll go out with a bang and have some of the music game’s biggest names perform at their music hall for their swan song season.
No word on why their lease will not be renewed going forward but if history has taught us anything it always boils down to one thing: money.
Will the building be sold to the highest bidder or will the venue be replaced with something that generates that much more income? Guess we’ll have to wait and see what the owners have planned for the Brooklyn property.
